To make the case for more state money, the leader of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education plans to tell lawmakers that the 14 state universities are cheaper and more efficient than the branch campuses of Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh.

The State System, which includes Shippensburg and Millersville universities, is seeking a $28.5 million increase in the 2009-10 fiscal year compared with this year. In the competition for state money, Chancellor John Cavanaugh will be armed with a comparison to Pitt and Penn State branch campuses.

The comparison looks at the tuition, fees and state appropriations at Pittsburgh's Johnstown campus and Penn State Altoona.

If the state system charged the same tuition and received the same level of aid as the Penn State and Pitt campuses, the state universities would have $353 million more at their disposal, Cavanaugh said.

Bill Mahon, Penn State's vice president for university relations, called the argument an apples-to-oranges comparison.

"It's ignoring the fact that our campuses have a very strong research component to them," he said.

Not so, said Kenn Marshall, a State System spokesman. The system chose the Penn State and Pitt branches for its comparison because they resemble the state universities, he said.

"It shows we certainly offer what we believe is a more affordable education than is offered at the branch campuses of both Penn State and Pitt," Marshall said.

The State System's enrollment surpasses Penn State's, even including its branch campuses. The system serves 112,600 students, while Penn State's enrollment is 92,613.

Pitt officials did not return calls for comment.

System officials said they wanted to distinguish themselves from Penn State and Pitt after a state Department of Education report released in November said Pennsylvania has the nation's sixth-highest public college education cost. It put that cost at $14,865, $532 more than the national average.

The College Board puts the average total cost of attendance at the state system's universities -- including tuition, room and board -- at $13,794.

Cavanaugh plans to cite a Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board study that ranks Pennsylvania's state universities last in total cost increases of the nation's 46 public university systems.

System officials are seeking $527 million from the state, a 5.7 percent increase over this year. Gov. Ed Rendell has proposed $498.5 million, the same as this year.

Even if the system gets the money it is seeking, it may raise tuition 4 percent, to $5,572 a year.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, has asked agencies to understand this is a difficult year.

"Everybody will see some deep and severe cuts," said Johnna Pro, a spokeswoman for Evans.

Ken Jarin, the system's board chairman, has warned system officials that might be the case given the state's fiscal picture.

Mary Soderberg, the state's budget secretary, said last week that the state's revenue has fallen about $1.3 billion below estimates at the end of February. That is not expected to improve in the final four months of the fiscal year, which ends June 30.

"It's a difficult year, but the request we made is what we believe we truly need," Marshall said.